Some of you already know about my trip plans but I kinda feel like posting what I ideally want to do. I decided to take some time off from school and travel. I'm not trying to plan too far in advance or even lay out a specific itnerary but I know what places I want to hit up and a basic timeline.

June 20th (give or take a few days): Leave for Guatemala City, Guatemala - spend the first week or so doing the sight-seeing tourist thing complete with ziplines, cloud forest, volcanos and ruins. If we (me and my boyfriend) like one of the cities we plan on staying there for a month or so, depending how affordable rent is. Guatemala seems to be one of the less expensive countries I've found in CA. We also are getting WWOOF (and maybe Serves, just as a backup) memberships so we plan to do that more than anything else. Est. time in G-mala: 2 months

Belize: Ideally I'd like to live here for a month via WWOOFing but there aren't so many farms listed so we may only do the tourist thing.

Cuba: The second place I've always wanted to go to (after Kenya). Probably catch a flight from Belize or Mexico (depends on where we can catch it safely). I haven't done much research on it but I'm willing to resort to a travel agent when in CA to get there.

Depending on how we feel we may island hop for a bit, possibly find a job on a boat (I've had experience deep sea fishing and operating boats) and use that as transport. If not then we head back to mainland.

Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador: Haven't looked too much into what activities we want to do in these countries but all three have a number of WWOOF places as well as a lot of Ex-pat couchsurfers if need be.

Costa Rica: Chris has friends that should be living here by the time we work our way down there so we may join up with them for a bit. If not several helpx.net, WWOOF and couchsurfing listings will aid us.

Panama: I kinda want to bike across Panama but it really depends how we are $$ wise and energy wise.

We haven't thought about anything after that since we might spend the whole year doing just those places. It really depends how much we like our WWOOF hosts, how money budgets out and if our health stays constant. We're both sickly people.

Anyway we plan on being gone a year, my little brother is supposed to graduate in June 2008 (but he may be kept back a year) so I want to be home to see that. I'm budgeting about 6,000$ for the trip (after flights, insurance, visa and prior costs). We plan on couchsurfing (already talking to a few people), WWOOFing and freeloaders.com. Also I want us to get Servas memberships, just as a back-up if we need it.

So room and food (when WWOOFing) should be taken care of most the time. Transport and communication are my biggest worries but I know internet is cheap and if need be I can get a pre-paid cell phone.

So that's PART ONE of my RTW trip.

__________________

Amber

"If I had a kid I'd f**k it. Then kill it. Then f**k it again." Seattle 2006

Small change of plans. After looking up some prices for flights into G-mala I've figured out that it will be MUCH cheaper to fly into Cancun and bus it to Belize and then into Guatemala. By much cheaper I mean like 300$ a person, hehe.

I've spent to last two hours looking at hostels and reading my guidebook. Planning for travel is half the fun! And I'm not even planning I'm just highlighting what info I think will come in useful. Good times!

__________________

Amber

"If I had a kid I'd f**k it. Then kill it. Then f**k it again." Seattle 2006

^Your right about the flights. My Dad has been splitting time living in Guatemala and Mexico and he generally flies into and out of Mexico City and buses it to Guatemala. I guess the VIP buses are really, really nice almost like business class on an airplane and not too expensive. Supposedly the local mafia runs them and also uses them to launder money. Peridiodically they will say a bus is sold out, and it will leave the station empty or almost empty. That way they can say they earned X dollars from ticket sales (which they didn't really sell) when in fact it's drug money. Anyway, have an awesome time...sounds like quite the adventure!

Flo: Americans aren't allowed to spend money in Cuba...and we cannot take direct flights from the US. However, most times you can get around it. For instance, if I flew into Havana from Mexico or Guatemala I'd just have to ask for them NOT to stamp my passport. From what I've read most Cubans welcome Americans (ecomonic reasons seem to be the main reason) so I'd just have to make sure to throw out reciepts and NOT get a "We went to Cuba and all you got was this teeshirt" shirts.

Legally, Americans can travel there with a few different visas but I think they all involve teaching, journalism and religious reasons. I know there's a few more but I can't think of them. Anywho that's what I've found in my research.

__________________

Amber

"If I had a kid I'd f**k it. Then kill it. Then f**k it again." Seattle 2006

Thanks Mike! WWOOF stand for World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. The idea is similiar to a kibbutz in Irael, however you'd be working on an organic farm in exchange for room and board. Their website is www.wwoof.org if you want to check it out.

__________________

Amber

"If I had a kid I'd f**k it. Then kill it. Then f**k it again." Seattle 2006

I believe for WWOOF independents it's $25 a year per person. Major countries have their own WWOOF memberships so you'd have to pay and join seperate for other countries. Luckly, the majority of the Central American countries are all included on the independent list (meaning there isn't too many listings for each country individually).

__________________

Amber

"If I had a kid I'd f**k it. Then kill it. Then f**k it again." Seattle 2006

Some of you already know about my trip plans but I kinda feel like posting what I ideally want to do. I decided to take some time off from school and travel. I'm not trying to plan too far in advance or even lay out a specific itnerary but I know what places I want to hit up and a basic timeline.

June 20th (give or take a few days): Leave for Guatemala City, Guatemala - spend the first week or so doing the sight-seeing tourist thing complete with ziplines, cloud forest, volcanos and ruins. If we (me and my boyfriend) like one of the cities we plan on staying there for a month or so, depending how affordable rent is. Guatemala seems to be one of the less expensive countries I've found in CA. We also are getting WWOOF (and maybe Serves, just as a backup) memberships so we plan to do that more than anything else. Est. time in G-mala: 2 months

Belize: Ideally I'd like to live here for a month via WWOOFing but there aren't so many farms listed so we may only do the tourist thing.

Cuba: The second place I've always wanted to go to (after Kenya). Probably catch a flight from Belize or Mexico (depends on where we can catch it safely). I haven't done much research on it but I'm willing to resort to a travel agent when in CA to get there.

Depending on how we feel we may island hop for a bit, possibly find a job on a boat (I've had experience deep sea fishing and operating boats) and use that as transport. If not then we head back to mainland.

Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador: Haven't looked too much into what activities we want to do in these countries but all three have a number of WWOOF places as well as a lot of Ex-pat couchsurfers if need be.

Costa Rica: Chris has friends that should be living here by the time we work our way down there so we may join up with them for a bit. If not several helpx.net, WWOOF and couchsurfing listings will aid us.

Panama: I kinda want to bike across Panama but it really depends how we are $$ wise and energy wise.

We haven't thought about anything after that since we might spend the whole year doing just those places. It really depends how much we like our WWOOF hosts, how money budgets out and if our health stays constant. We're both sickly people.

Anyway we plan on being gone a year, my little brother is supposed to graduate in June 2008 (but he may be kept back a year) so I want to be home to see that. I'm budgeting about 6,000$ for the trip (after flights, insurance, visa and prior costs). We plan on couchsurfing (already talking to a few people), WWOOFing and freeloaders.com. Also I want us to get Servas memberships, just as a back-up if we need it.

So room and food (when WWOOFing) should be taken care of most the time. Transport and communication are my biggest worries but I know internet is cheap and if need be I can get a pre-paid cell phone.

So that's PART ONE of my RTW trip.

Hi!

Just visiting the website for the first time and came upon your post for years prior to date!

May I ask- Any good tidbits on your travels? (tidbits.. that must be the first time ever using this word, hope you don't mind)

I would love to work on a farm; preferrably learning about the most commonly used plants from the amazon. maybe meet some local shamans. Singapore is the closest place to tropical climate i've been in; Mexico is the closest i've been to any of the locations on your list.

I'm very new to TravelPunk, so maybe i missed your reviews. Its crazy how I'm rarely on-line due to $ and location, so thought I would shoot this out to ya and get busy outside this cafe.

Thanks for any advise you may have as far as Chile or Costa Rica... or other you would highly reccomend for meeting great people and exploration. Hope to connect soon !

I possibly need to explore travel punk and other sites 1st. Thanks for considering helping a new wondering soul out in the meantime!

Looking for good 1st stops in: Costa Rica, Chile, Guatemala... or the like that will help guide me to a place where I can learn about the plants and their healing properties. Maybe do some building? (Cobbing....) Workshops for cheep/ live like a local. Shamanism, etc.